


Scum and Scrapings

by SilverInk



Category: Frontier Wolf - Rosemary Sutcliff
Genre: Backstory, Chocolate Box Exchange, First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Hunters & Hunting, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29281089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverInk/pseuds/SilverInk
Summary: Lucius arrives at Castellum and quickly becomes close with the Frontier Wolves. He and Hilarion become especially close - when they go hunting for his wolfskin cloak together, they bond deeply and their relationship grows...
Relationships: Hilarion/Lucius (Frontier Wolf)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Scum and Scrapings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chantefable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chantefable/gifts).



> Feb. 19: Made a few minor edits to the ending bc it didn't feel quite right...

Lucius’s first sight of Castellum on the evening he arrived was a grim one. It was raining, hardly more than a drizzle, but it was the cold kind of rain that made him shiver under the thick layer of his cloak. He gripped his pony’s reins with numb fingers as he followed behind the leader of the escort, watching the way the wind ruffled the thick fur of the strange wolfskin cloak he wore. Lightning flickered in the distance, closely followed by soft thunder, and it starkly illuminated the fort where Lucius was sure he would spend what remained of his career. 

It was all so different from anything he was used to: he had grown up in Rome and served the Eagles mainly in Italy and Egypt. He was used to the heat and sun, and that was what he loved. Britain, as he’d experienced it so far, was cold and damp and cloudy, as though his change of posting had been designed as the direct opposite of what he knew.

Soon enough, another member of the escort ahead of Lucius, also wearing a wolfskin cloak, shouted over his shoulder that they were almost to Castellum. The fort was practically straight ahead of them now, but to have someone announce it seemed to cement it in Lucius’s mind that they really were here now, that this was really happening. He ran a hand down his pony’s neck and took a deep breath to steady himself, praying silently for strength.

It felt like only a few moments before they were inside the fort. A man Lucius assumed to be the commander, an older man with a kind face that was scored with many lines around his mouth and eyes, met them at the entrance and immediately greeted Lucius.

“You are the new Junior Centenarius, are you not?” The man was smiling, and somehow Lucius felt more comfortable already.

“Yes, sir. Lucius.” He saluted, and the commander returned it.

“I am Ducenarius Julius Gavros. Come, let us get out of this rain. The other officers are in the Mess now for dinner.”

Lucius nodded and followed Gavros into the Mess.

* * *

There were four other men inside—Lucius’s fellow officers now—and they seemed to accept him quite easily. There was Kaeso, the quartermaster who was already deep in his cup of wine; Druim, the leader of the Arcani; Anthonius, a medic and a fellow Christian, as Lucius learned later; and Hilarion, the Senior Centenarius, who was friendly and laughing and lounging across the bench on one side of the table.

Ducenarius Gavros introduced him to them, and Hilarion was the first to offer him a cup of wine and moved his long legs so Lucius could sit next to him.

“You needn’t look so nervous,” Hilarion told him, grinning, as Lucius sat. “We may be Wolves, but we won’t bite one of the pack.” He, too, was wearing the same cloak of wolfskin as Lucius’s escort.

Lucius laughed a little, grateful to him for breaking some of the tension. “It is my first time in Britain, and I did not expect to find myself here.” He gestured toward the whole room around them, encompassing all of Castellum.

“Well, you are among friends now,” Hilarion said, pushing the wine cup into his hands. “Believe me when I say, we have all of us felt nearly the same as you feel now.”

* * *

Hardly more than three months had passed since Lucius arrived at Castellum before it was time for him to get his own wolfskin cloak. Hilarion and Anthonius explained the tradition to him one evening.

“Every man of the Frontier Wolves goes out and claims his own wolf for his own cloak,” Anthonius explained. “It is a rite of passage of sorts; when you earn your wolf cloak it makes you a true Frontier Wolf, a member of the Family.”

“You can take friends and hunting dogs with you on the hunt, but the wolf must be killed by you alone.” Hilarion grinned at him, bright eyed, watching for his reaction.

It sounded like an exciting adventure. And over the past two months, Lucius had become better friends with his fellow officers, but he wanted to be officially accepted into the Family, as Hilarion and Anthonius always called it.

“When shall we go?” Lucius grinned back, eager to undertake this experience with his friend.

* * *

A week later, Lucius and Hilarion rode out of Castellum in the early morning in high spirits, and Lucius hardly noticed himself touching the black stone of the Lady as he passed it. He only realized he’d done it when Hilarion turned around on his horse, raising an eyebrow and grinning at him. Lucius grinned too and laughed, a little embarrassed to be caught.

Hilarion had a friend in the town who had a hunting dog which he had offered to loan to the two of them for the day. The two of them talked for a few minutes, and Hilarion introduced Lucius to his friend, a tall, freckled man who resembled Hilarion in appearance but had none of Hilarion’s laughing charm. Then, once they had the hound—a brown and black dog named Madigan, who was always wagging her tail—they could begin their journey in earnest at last. Despite the slight chill and the fog in the air, Lucius had hope that it would be a good day for hunting.

Once they left the town, it was easy for Madigan to find the scent of a wolf. Hilarion turned to Lucius and grinned when she started whining and wagging her tail even harder as she sniffed eagerly at the ground. 

“She’s got a scent already!”

“Ah, it will be a swift hunt,” Lucius said, watching as the hound trotted off with her nose to the ground. He looked at Hilarion, and they kicked their horses into motion at the same time, laughing and joyful.

And it seemed that it would be very swift: they followed the trail for a while, Madigan’s tail waving excitedly in the air, occasionally losing the scent but then finding it again after a few moments of searching. This went on for half an hour, until Madigan lost the wolf’s scent and couldn’t find it again. Lucius noticed abruptly that the sky was growing dark, though it was only nearing midday. Fog still laid like a blanket over the land and the earthy smell of rain was in the air, and even as he took all of this in, it began to rain heavily.

Hilarion cursed and blew out a heavy breath. “This is proving more difficult an endeavor than I had hoped. I’m sorry, Lucius.”

“Do you control the weather now, Hilarion?” Lucius murmured, smiling a little, and Hilarion glanced at him in surprise before breaking into a wide grin, throwing his head back in laughter. It made Lucius smile more widely, pleased that he could make Hilarion laugh like that.

“Watch, in a few moments there will be thunder!” He pointed dramatically to the sky, and it was Lucius’s turn to laugh. Hilarion laughed too and jumped down from his horse. “Come, let us find somewhere more sheltered to wait out this storm.”

Lucius got down too, and as Hilarion slung his arm across his shoulders as they walked together, there was a sudden loud crack of thunder. Laughing, he looked at Hilarion again to see him look up at the sky in shock, then start laughing too and give Lucius a quick wink.

* * *

They found shelter under a dense thicket of brush, with the hound lying next to them and the horses tied to a tree nearby that was also sheltered from the rain. Lucius couldn’t stop shivering—in the time it had taken for them to find cover, the rain had soaked into his clothes and slipped down the back of his tunic, and he didn’t think he’d ever been more cold. Beside him, Hilarion had his arms crossed over his chest against the cold, but he wasn’t shaking like Lucius was. He also had the extra protection of his own wolfskin cloak. He glanced over in concern at Lucius’s next full-body shiver, and Lucius opened his mouth to apologize, but Hilarion only laughed quietly and removed the wolf cloak to wrap it around Lucius.

“You’re not used to this weather, are you?” he asked as Lucius stuttered out a thank you and pulled the warm folds tighter around his shoulders.

“No, I am not,” Lucius laughed. He’d thought it was painfully clear. “I have only ever served in Italy and Egypt before now, and sending me so far away seems to have been the only fitting punishment.”

Hilarion hummed lowly, shaking his head in sympathy. “What a change that must be.”

“It is. I miss the sun, Hilarion.”

“I can imagine,” Hilarion laughed gently.

They sat in silence for a moment, and Lucius was already a little warmer under Hilarion’s cloak. Suddenly he felt the urge to tell Hilarion how it was he came to be here, sudden and gripping, and so he did. It wasn’t something he had ever told anyone before, but it was surprisingly easy to tell Hilarion everything now.

He told him how his commander on the border of Italy and Gaul had left him in charge of a patrol mission of a dangerous area, when Lucius had hardly any experience of commanding men. His second-in-command for the mission, a man with a few years’ more experience than Lucius, had suggested that they split into two groups, and Lucius had thought it was a good idea. 

Shortly after, his own group was ambushed by one of the local Gaulish tribes, and most of his men were either hurt or killed. He quickly learned that same thing had happened to the other group, and that his second had been badly injured. When they finally got back, Lucius accepted most of the responsibility for the disaster onto his own shoulders. He had thought it was a good idea to split up despite the risk from the Gaulish tribes, and it was a reckless enough action that he ended up being sent to Britain, the farthest edge of the empire.

“…and so here I am,” Lucius finished, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed at how the words had poured from his mouth.

There was a pause, Lucius watching Hilarion’s face carefully, then Hilarion said quietly and half-laughingly, “Of course you took all the blame, you are too honorable to place the blame on an injured man. How unfair that is, though.” Hilarion looked at him, and Lucius smiled a little, feeling warmth in his chest. “I am here only because I was so insubordinate to my previous commander that he didn’t feel it was worth my charming personality.” He laughed a little as he said it, but it seemed a little strained.

“Truly? You have never been like that with Gavros, as far as I have seen.”

“Well, Gavros is a commander I respect, and a good man.”

Lucius nodded in agreement, and ran his hand over Madigan’s warm, soft flank.

* * *

The wolf Lucius killed— _his_ wolf—had beautiful dark brown brindled fur, and when the hide had been cured and attached to his regulation green cloak, he felt immeasurably proud to wear it. It was the sign that he belonged here now, and Lucius felt warm and pleased all through that evening as the officers toasted to him and congratulated him in the Mess over dinner. The camaraderie felt wonderfully good, but what felt the best was Hilarion’s arm around his shoulders. It stayed there throughout the night as they ate and drank and as Hilarion repeated the story of their hunt together to whoever would listen.

By the time they were ready to go to bed, Hilarion and Lucius were both slightly tipsy, and Lucius was laughing and pleased when Hilarion took his hand and drew him off to the side. Lucius squeezed his hand, and then Hilarion was cupping his face in his long, gentle fingers and pressing a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. It almost took his breath away, and Lucius clung onto Hilarion desperately as he kissed back.

“Shh, shh my dear,” Hilarion murmured, and Lucius had never known him to be so gentle. His heart clenched, and he realized suddenly just how much he'd wanted this. He couldn’t help smiling into the next kiss, feeling almost giddy.

“I wanted you,” Lucius said, the words feeling clumsy and inadequate, but he needed Hilarion to know, “for longer than I knew.”

He felt the way Hilarion grinned and nodded his understanding more than saw it.

"Yes, and I you." The words were whispered into Lucius's ear and followed quickly by a kiss to his cheek. He knew Hilarion understood him, and he knew this was exactly where they both wanted to be.


End file.
